It worked!

And I am not talking about those stupid wrap things that people are currently harassing me about on FaceBook.

I am talking about the whole changing my weigh-in day to Friday.

I woke up at 6am, like I usually do on Fridays since I work at home. I went and peed, stripped down and weighed myself. Then I went downstairs, got my office set up, let the dogs out, and started a pot of coffee.

Well, about half a cup of coffee and a hour and a half later, I dropped some hot meat and then went upstairs to weigh myself again...

And I was a pound less! Hellz to the ye-ah!.

So not was I patting myself on the back for losing another pound in just five days, but because I am just so smart*. I really wish I would have thought of this, oh I don't know, like 5 weeks ago! Oh well. Moving forward. The next test is to see how I do with starting me week out at the heavy end, meaning I usually use the most of my points on the weekend and am much more on schedule during the week. Even though this week might be difficult since I am on vacation. But I will just take that as another challenge I can meet.

Up for this weekend/week:

Tomorrow, Saturday - I am planning on spin class 7:45am-8:45am then BodyPump 9-10 and then a bike ride with one of my cousins at 10:30 on a local trail. I may need to take a nap.

And I am starting the 30 Day shred on Monday. Last time I did it, I did one day and only made it halfway through until I sat down and just watched that crazy lunatic. This time I am 15+ pounds lighter and I am spinning and running daily. My confidence is rising in myself and what I CAN do and I am getting better at pushing myself further. This whole weight loss/healthy living thing is all in your mind. ALL of it. For me anyway.

That is it for now my friends. Hope you have a very nice weekend and Happy Friday!

xoxo

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

Week IV (6/11/13) - down 3lbs and 3 inches. 

Week V (6/17/13) - down 1.5lbs and 1inch

Week VI (6/24/13) - down 1lb and no inches

Week VII (6/28/13) - down 1lb and no inches

Some thoughts on moving your/my bowels

 *lets just start this off with, if you are not a fan of TMI, please stop reading and close this tab. 

I have always been a pooper. Ever since I can remember, within minutes of eating almost anything, I have to poop. And if it something with dairy, watch out! Because I will have to go to the closest bathroom immediately.

It is definitely some kind of intolerance, most likely a genetic one because my dad and my brother are the same way. And it obviously is not the life effecting otherwise I would have sought professional medical treatment/advice by now. I did mention it to my primary care physician and her response was to cut dairy for 2 weeks and see what happens and then cut wheat for 2 weeks. Yeah, that was way too much work for me. 

While I do believe many of my "attacks", if you will, are brought on by dairy, sometimes I have them and there was no dairy to be found. 

I have pooped in many, many strange places, except my pants - but I have come close a few times. I am certainly not above pooping anywhere. For instance:

The first time I brought Ryan to Florida with me to visit my grandparents, we had been dating for about 4 years and had been engaged for about a year (so Ryan had a very good idea of my "problem"). The first night we are there, my grandparents take us to The Golden Corral. If you know what that place is, you may understand my story better, if you don't, well just think of it as a cheap colon cleanser that doesn't have to go through your insurance. My grandparents lived about 3 or 4 miles from the place, so we weren't too far. We made it about 1 mile from their house and I knew if I didn't find a bathroom in the next 30 seconds, I would be spending my second day in Florida, cleaning out my grandmom's back seat. As it was, Hurricane Charlie had hit the area a few months before so there was a lot of construction going on. The Poop Gods were in my favor that night and there, sitting lonely by itself in the middle of a flattened lot, was a construction port-a-potty.

Now port-a-potties are gross. But construction port-a-potties are on a whole new level. And imagine HAVING to use one in the dark, in a warm, humid place.

Ok, I'll stop.

In the end, my grandmom's car was spared and Ryan still married me.

I have noticed that since I have really changed my diet and been aware of what I am eating 24/7, this "problem" has gotten a little better. As in, I am not sprinting to the WC while still chewing my last bite of food. It may be all the water I am drinking too. Or probiotics.

There you have it, a little interesting piece of info on my bodily functions. And there are many more poop stories to tell. Maybe, if you like this post enough, I can make it a monthly segment? If only I were joking...

Happy Hump Day!

xoxo

Weekly Weigh IN. WW week VI

I lost a pound and no inches.

I ate bad.

But I tracked every point.

I earned 48 activity points and used every single one of those up.

I only had 20 weekly points left over.

Here is where I confess all the bad crap I shoved in my gob this past week:

Monday - Wendy's for dinner plus a Frosty (23pts)
Wednesday - pizza/chips/a quarter of a primo hoagie/half a chocochip cookie for lunch (14pts)
                     Chicken chili/tortilla chips/boneless wings for dinner (21pts)
Thursday - Mexican - chicken encchiladas (2)/Guac/ships/coke (19pts)
                  Rita's for dessert (5pts)
Friday - Chick-fil-A 8pc nugs/half serv fries/Poly sauce (14pts)
             Kit-Kat bar (6pts)
             Goobers (1 serv = 1/4cup)/ movie theater popcorn - about 2 cups/cherry coke (19pts)
Saturday - Wendys for lunch (21pts)
                 Applebee's WW parm chicken (12pts)
                 Funnel cake (13pts)
Sunday - Diner lunch - BLT/chips (12pts) and Ritas Pina Colada gelati (13pts) and SO worth every point!
               Pulled pork on a roll (6pts) sweet potato fries/corn-on-the-cob/coleslaw (14pts)

 I really want to throw up in my mouth looking at all this gross disgusting food. And while I ate within my points (for the week, not always for the day) it was still a lot of BAD food. On the positive, I was very aware of my portions and did my best in exercising extreme portion control.

So you may be wondering how the heck I still lost when I ate so bad.

The answer?

I exercised my ass off.

Well, not literally because my ass is very much still there, and a little sore at that.

So to end on a good note, here is my activity log for the week:
Monday - Spin (+10pts)
Tuesday - C25k (+7pts)
Wednesday - Spin (+12pts)
Thursday - 5mi walk (+8pts)
Saturday - 10mi bike ride w Avery on the back (+6pts)
Sunday - 9mi bike ride w Avery on the back (+5pts)

So I have to believe that had I not worked so hard, eating all this bad crap would not have been a losing week for me. And then I go to the "if onlys". If only I had eaten better, how much more could I have lost? But that is neither here nor there so I will just be happy and thankful that I have a healthy, capable body to exercise and the motivation and determination to continue.

One thing I changed for this upcoming week, is I changed my weigh in to Friday mornings. I did this for a few reasons:
1. Weekends are definitely harder for me, food/eating wise and this is where I use up a lot of my extra points. I do pretty good during the week, as long as I plan our dinners and we don't eat out.
2. I work from home on Fridays so I can wait a little longer to weigh myself (like after I pee and have my morning poop - really sorry TMI but it's just how my body works and I am planning a pooping post in the near future, so consider yourself warned.) I have found that I can weigh myself first thing (say, 7am) after I get up and pee, and then if I wait an hour or so, after my morning poo, I will be about 1.5 LESS. So weighing myself at 5am on Monday mornings is not always accurate. At least this is what I tell myself on the reg.

There you have it, in all honesty. Thanks for following along and reading and keeping me virtually accountable.

PS. I am now less than 10lbs away from my next goal! Maybe a before and after photo if I can gather up the courage.

xoxo
Summary:

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

Week IV (6/11/13) - down 3lbs and 3 inches. 

Week V (6/17/13) - down 1.5lbs and 1inch

Week VI (6/24/13) - down 1lbs and no inches

Weight Watchers Week 5

Sorry for keeping you in suspense for an extra day. I am sure the weekends are long enough for you, just sitting there, waiting for my weight update post.

This week I lost 1.5lbs and 1 inch.

As I always say, when it comes to losing weight, I'll take any loss I can get, big or small.

What I did:
- went to 2 spin classes
- rode my bike w Avery on the back, 10 miles
- ate all my points with only 30 weekly points left over, hoping that covers anything I under measured

Summary:

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

Week IV (6/11/13) - down 3lbs and 3 inches. 

Week V (6/17/13) - down 1.5lbs and 1inch

So here is to another week, some more exercise, and eating right.

xoxo

Haver you ever met one of your favorite bloggers?

I did.

Is it creepy to drive 2 hours to attend a storytime with one of your favorite bloggers?

I hope not.

Because that is what we did this past Saturday.

Backstory:
A year or so ago, I was talking about blogs with my brother's girlfriend, Maria. She asked me if I read the Rockstar Diaries. I hadn't so I went and checked it out. 

I was immediately hooked, as it seems a lot of people are. 

I have been following Naomi and her family's blog and her instagram feed for some time now and last week she posted that she and her husband, Josh, would be at the Strand bookstore in NYC on Saturday, June 8th to read some of their favorite children's books.

So I texted Maria and asked if she would be interested in going up to the city with me and spending the day...of course making the storytime event and then just walking around the city and Central Park.

She said yes.

We made plans. I researched trains, parking, subway, lunch....I just like to do that kind of stuff when I am traveling somewhere. Control freak? Maybe-yes.

We left around 8am and I flew like the wind to the big city, my goal being to get there before 10am and get the early bird parking rate - which we did. And Maria brought her adorable nephew, Ryder, along for the trip. He is so cute and such a good baby!

We got to the subway and took the N down to Union Square Station. Avery loved riding the subway. And touching all the nastiness along the way.

The bookstore was only a block or so from the subway and we made it there in plenty of time.
It is a really cool bookstore, and if you like books it is definitely worth a visit. Had we not had a 2 year old and a baby, Maria and I could have stayed in that store for hours.

Back to storytime.

It was fun! Both Josh and Naomi read a couple books. A few of them Avery knew from the local storytime my sister takes her to so she knew the hand motions and stuff. They had their kids there, Eleanor and Samson who are just as cute in person as they are in photographs.

Naomi reading "We're
Going on a Bear Hunt"














Maria and I got the chance to meet and talk to Naomi. And she is one of the nicest, most humblest people I have met. She was just sweet. She was kind to every single person she spoke to. Which made me like her even more than I already had. It was well worth the drive up there.

After storytime, we were all getting hungry so we made our way to Eataly on 5th Ave. That place was a zoo! And not really the place to drag two little kids and a stroller into. When you are hot and hungry.
So we walked over to the Shake Shack in Madison Square park. There was some festival going on and the line was ridiculous. We finally ended up at  Jewish Deli on 5th Ave. It was good and we had a chance to rest and cool off and you really cannot go wrong with a Jewish deli.

Then, THEN, we hoofed it all the way up 5th Ave to Central Park...almost 3 miles! It was nice out and there are so many good stores - a lot of them the flagship store for the brand - along the way.

Of course by the time we got to Central Park, Avery was out.

But then Maria and I spotted 2 of Avery's favorites so I HAD to wake her up:

She was pretty starstuck

We left the city around 4:30 and I can say we had a great day. The kids were fun and I think they both liked it. I am planning on another trip in the near future.

Central Park

Thank you, New York, for such a fun day! We will see you again, soon!

xoxo

Success in Numbers

Source

Ryan gave me my scale back last night.

This is the scale I use

I resisted the urge to jump on after I set it down on our bathroom floor. I know weighing myself at night is a sure way to be discourage, especially after I felt I worked hard all week and stuck to The Plan.

I woke up this morning, peed, stripped down and gingerly stepped, one foot at a time, onto the 1'x1' piece of glass that holds the weight of the world -not really, just my weight.

And I was down! 3.5 pounds lost forever. Like my cousin's He-Man in the Ocean City, NJ beach when we were 5.

Then I got to measuring my important areas. Another loss of 3 inches. In my arms (1"), Waist (0.5"), Hips (0.5") and thighs (1").


It feels good.

source

SO good.

source

I wore shorts yesterday that never really fit me, even when I first bought them, although I told myself they did - ew. And they definitely did not fit me last summer - at all.

It feels good to walk and not feel my arms graze my love handles/muffin top.

So what did I do different this past week?

1. I had Ryan hide my scale.
2. I took a spin class (Uh, hello, 10 activity points for 45 minutes!!!)
3. I walked 5+ miles in New York City  - of course this will not be a weekly occurance but it is an excellent push to move, a lot more.
4. I only ate after 7pm 2 or 3 nights, and only because I had to. Like Wednesday night because I take Avery to gymnastics at 5:15-5:45 and then went straight to spin 6-7, so I HAD to eat after 7.
5. I swapped my activity points first before my weekly points, so I actually used points I earned through sweat and busting my bum.
6. I earned 30 activity points for spin, c25k and the hours of walking we did in NYC. I used 23 of those, but I did not "use" any of my weekly points. I say "used" because I am quite sure I underestimated points here and there and forgot to track a thing or two (at the most because I have been very diligent about tracking everything) which the leftover activity point and unused weekly points should cover.

What I am planning for this week:
1. Spin tonight (10 Actv pts)
2. C25k tomorrow (3 Actv pts)
3. Do not eat after 7, if avoidable
4. C25K Friday (3 Actv pts)
5. Spin Saturday (10 Actv pts)
6. Going to dinner with Ryan's friend and his wife, so I have already went to the restaurant's website and figured out the points values and what I can eat.
7. Ryan hid the scale again.
8. Stick to it, drink water, eats lots of fruit and veggies.

Summary:

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

Week IV (6/11/13) - down 3lbs and 3 inches. 

Totals to date - 4 weeks - 14.5lbs and 19 inches

xoxo

Have you heard..

of the Rend Collective Experiment?

(If you have, pardon me for being a little behind)

If not, listen. If you like Mumford & Sons or the Lumineers, this group is the Christian version.




I cannot stop listening to their album, Campfire. They do an awesome version of 10,000 Reasons (one of my most favorite songs).

Rend Collective Experiment is an eclectic collective of multi-instrumentalists from the North of Ireland. An inherent desire for something spiritually substantive in our increasingly artificial world is exactly what brought the movement of friends together. United by a common purpose, these twenty-somethings began exploring the intersection between God, life and community.
(source)

You're welcome.

xoxo

Monday Afternoon Quickie

I am sure most of you were wishing this weekend away, anxiously awaiting Monday. You know, so you could read my super exciting blog post about losing weight.

Its' not that exciting though. I have to say I did not lose any weight this week. BUT I did lose 3 inches.
Here are the possible reasons for not losing:
1. I used all but 5 of my weekly points. The previous 2 weeks I barely used any, just my daily points each day.
2. Wednesday was my birthday and while I counted points for everything, I went over my daily points and dipped into my weekly points (see #1)
3. I am due to get my period this week. Enough said. (TMI? sorry, but it's the truth)

What am I going to do different this week?

1. Eat ONLY my daily points. Leave weekly points for anything that I underestimate in portions or miss ingredients.
2. Do not eat anything after 7pm.
3. Do not weigh myself. AT ALL.
4. Get back to the gym and start C25k...again. I am feeling better and my allergies are dying down (a little) so I feel OK about getting back to it.
5. Start the 30 day shred on the days that I do not go to the gym. Keep moving. And racking up those extra points so I can eat more ;-)

Normally, I would get discouraged by this lack of loss and throw in the towel and pig out. Not this time. I am trying to be realistic about this and I know that I have to try very hard and keep trying every day, for every meal.

I do find myself praying a lot more, asking God to take these unhealthy desires away. Thanking Him for giving me the motivation to start this program again for the millionth time. And having faith that He will bring me through this, like He has for every other struggle in my life.

And with that, my friends, is our Monday afternoon quickie. Thank you for keeping me accountable and for your encouragement.

Summary:

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

xoxo